Eye Migrane

[Big_E]

Anyone ever have an eye migrane before? I had one yesterday, and had no idea what was going on with my vision. Anyway, an eye migrane was the diagnosis, though I need to confirm the diagnosis with my regular doctors.

If you've ever had one before, have they recurred at all?

[Barb51850]

I had one of those years ago. I lost part of my vision - it was like there was a blank, "foggy" spot in the middle of my eye. Then I saw a zig-zag line in the same eye. I called my eye doctor, and rushed to his office. By the time I got there, it had gone away. The doctor immediately knew what it was after I described the symptoms. He said "You experienced an occular migraine. Nothing serious." It never happened to me again, although I did suffer from the usual "headache" migraines regularly for several years.

[Big_E]

Yeah...in my right eye, the right half I had psychadelic waves of colors, lasted about 20 minutes or so, and then went away as mysteriously as it came. Freaked me out though.

[-tz]

Yes, I've had those, starting a couple of years ago. I was sitting at my computer (at work) and I suddenly saw a shape made of colored zigzag lines with a "foggy" spot in the middle. The spot got bigger for a while and then it got smaller and went away altogether after about fifteen minutes ... all the while I was frantically looking up "eye disorder" in Google. I quickly arrived at the self-diagnosis "ocular migraine" and since every source I found said it wasn't serious, my mind was eased. I went to my regularly scheduled appointment with my ophthalmologist shortly afterwards and he confirmed my diagnosis, and that it was nothing to worry about.

I understand the visual phenomena are similar or identical to the "aura" that some people with migraine headaches experience just before the headache starts.

They have recurred, very seldom at first but lately a bit more regularly. (I just saw the ophthalmologist again and he still says it's nothing to worry about.) I'm working extra hours on Saturdays lately at a computer that seems especially prone to "trigger" them (though I have experienced them away from computer screens also).

In my case, there have been no headache symptoms at all, luckily.

[Barb51850]

My eye doctor told me that seeing the zig-zag shapes is a common symptom. In his practice, he has many child patients who experience occular migraines. When asked to draw what they see, they would almost always draw the zig-zag lines.

[Barb51850]

http://www.eyeguys.net/ocularmigraine.html

[MiamiKat]

The shimmering, broken glass effect is called a "scintillating scotoma". (I used to get them and the term just stuck in my head. )

I used to get them when my allergies were really acting up and I didn't drink enough water. So now I drink a lot of water and take better allergy medicine and like magic, no more scintillating scotomas.

(I got them so frequently for a while -- like twice a week -- that I actually learned to enjoy the light show. Fortunately, I never got a headache afterwards -- all it took was a few large glasses of water, an Excedrin & 20-30 minutes and it would all be over.)

[PinstripePride]

Yes. I got my first and only one in the middle of my college placement exam. I had no idea what the hell it was, and was freaking out. In hindsight, it's hilarious, but I was sitting there thinking "What the hell is going on? How can I be going blind in the middle of my SAT. This isn't happening. I can't even see the damn questions."

[MiamiKat]

Stress is supposed to also be a cause of ocular migraines, although not the only one.

http://www.healthcentral.com/encyclo..._Migraine.html

[Dave Visbeck]

Anyone ever have an eye migrane before? I had one yesterday, and had no idea what was going on with my vision. Anyway, an eye migrane was the diagnosis, though I need to confirm the diagnosis with my regular doctors.

If you've ever had one before, have they recurred at all?

Was there a terrible pain along with it? I know of the other migranes that are terrible pain wise.

[#1PaFan]

I get those a lot, actually. Zigzagging lines and a temporary loss of peripheral vision. I got them in both eyes already. I usually can feel it coming on.

[#1PaFan]

Was there a terrible pain along with it? I know of the other migranes that are terrible pain wise.

I never had any pain with it at all. It's just horrible trying to see.

[MiamiKat]

Yup...I always knew when I was about to get an ocular migraine.

I'd see an "aura" and get a weird, lightheaded feeling, and within a minute the light show would begin...

[PeteRFNY]

I once got hit with an occular migrane at work and had no idea what the hell was going on. There was no "headache pain" involved - just the vision disturbance.

I was doing work on the computer and I started to get those "foggy areas" around the frame of my vision. I got up to look in the men's room mirror, thinking that maybe there was something in my eye. On the 100-foot walk to the men's room, my vision went out completely. I walked right into the bathroom door.

I immediately felt my way beck to the office and sat down. I told my co-worker, "Um, not to make you nervous, but I'm blind right now". He asked me to describe what was going on, and I told him that my vision washed over with a milky fog, and I could only see shadows. Having never had an occular migrane, I was a tad nervous.

Luckily, the Mrs. worked at a hospital at the time, so I called her and spoke to someone about this and they explained to me what was going on. The crazy thing about it is about 15 minutes later, my vision came back as fast as it went away.

There was no residual headache afterwards, although I took a bunch of Advil just in case.

[#1PaFan]

Thanks for starting this thread, Eric!!! No ................, I thought it only happened to me.

[Big_E]

Thanks for starting this thread, Eric!!! No ................, I thought it only happened to me.

I'm glad (in a way) to find out other people have had the same problem. Nobody else I talked to had even heard of such things.

I did have a slight headache afterwards, but that also went away quickly, without painkillers.

[cb2u]

I get migraines very frequently but they are usually without the "aura", or eye symptoms. Occasionally I do get that aura. It's the zigzag lines, with a feeling of being out of it, for 25 minutes (almost exactly, I can time them), then about a half hour later the headache starts. It sucks!!

You can't read anything, and if I'm driving, I have to pull off the road.

I don't take any medication for the aura per se, but I take Imitrex or painkillers for the migraine headache itself.

[penfold]

Once I saw plaid... not zigzags... but red, black, green plaid. And I had a killer headache to accompany it. I couldn't see a thing other than plaid haze. Scared me half to death. I went to bed and the following morning I was okay but it wasn't something I ever cared to repeat.